The vehicle driving apparatus has been conventionally known which is structured such that a rotating electric machine and an electric unit electrically connected to the rotating electric machine are integrated with each other.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-248198 (Patent Document 1) discloses an inverter-integrated motor in which a motor body is placed on the upper surface of a motor mount and an inverter device is housed within the motor mount.
Similarly, Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2004-343845 (Patent Document 2), 2004-215355 (Patent Document 3), 2001-238405 (Patent Document 4), and the like disclose a vehicle driving apparatus in which the motor corresponding to a rotating electric machine and the inverter corresponding to an electric unit are integrated with each other.
In the case where the rotating electric machine and the electric unit are integrated with each other as described above, it is preferable to dispose the electric unit below the rotating electric machine in consideration of the maintainability of the electric unit. Furthermore, since the support structure for the driving apparatus is more likely to support the driving apparatus from above or from the side with respect to the driving apparatus, it is also preferable to dispose the above-described electric unit below the rotating electric machine even in consideration of the relationship with the support position by the support structure.
In the case where the electric unit electrically connected to the rotating electric machine is disposed below the rotating electric machine, the connecting terminal on the rotating electric machine side is disposed in the lower portion in the rotating electric machine. In this case, when the cooling medium for cooling the rotating electric machine is stored in the bottom of the housing, the above-mentioned connecting terminal is more likely to be immersed in the cooling medium stored in the bottom. The immersion of the connecting terminal in the cooling medium requires particular measures to be taken in order to ensure the insulation performance in the connecting terminal, which results in an increase in cost.
Patent Documents 1-4 do not disclose the details of the structure of the connecting terminal, and thus, the above-described problems may arise.